The Nashville Predators Acquired Mark Friedman, So Who Is He?

The unofficial pre- Four Nations Cup trade deadline has brought some more action from the Nashville Predators. Barry Trotz has pulled the trigger on another trade but again, it does not seem to be one of consequence.

Now, we hate to see a guy like Future Considerations go, but let's wait and see what kind of return might be coming in the form of Mark Friedman.

This year he's played 5 games for the Vancouver Canucks, recording no goals or assists, but has accounted for 10 penalty minutes. Last season he played 23 games for the Canucks, recording 1 assist, and accumulating another 21 penalty minutes.

Now Friedman has been one of those NHL/AHL journeymen for a while now. He's been a pro since the 2016-2017 season, but has accounted for far more AHL production than NHL production, and may have been a player who caused the odd issue or two in his time.

Originally a 3rd round 86th overall draft pick, there were some expectations around Friedman for coming getting into the league and becoming productive. That never materialized in Philadelphia, as he only played 11 NHL games in his 5 seasons in the organization. On his way out he was not treated as lovely as most players are on their way out. Future GM Keith Jones was in the broadcast booth at the time and called out Friedman for complaining about playing time during his tenure.

Then, the Friedman ended up on the Penguins, and the Flyers actually went after Friedman.

There had to be some bad blood there especially with Gostisbehere's clearly dirty cross check at the end.

Friedman went on to play sparingly again for the Pittsburg Penguins and for the Vancouver Canucks, but more often in the AHL for the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins and the Abbotsford Canucks.

Now Friedman has probably matured, but its clear who he is as a player. He's very similar to a Kiefer Bellows type, or even a Mark Jankowski. They are better than AHL players, but their games are not built in a way or for whatever reason do not translate to the NHL level. That leaves them plodding along as bottom six players or healthy scratches until there are injuries and they fill in for a dozen games or so. Some of them get lucky and land a one way deal and end up in the show for a bit on bad teams with decent deals and get to hang around.

Now, Friedman is a good skater. He's offensively aggressive, and isn't afraid to throw his weight around. He's only 5'11" and about 185 pounds, but he tries to make up for it.

At the end of the day, this move isn't doing anything. But with the Admirals decimated on the back end because half their roster is up playing with the NHL, it is a move that had to be made for organizational stability. Barry Trotz probably won't end up actually giving up much, but this won't make any kind of splash.